Investing in real estate is on everyone’s bucket list nowadays. Finding the right property, completing the paperwork, and turning it into something you like is a huge task. But for investors, the job is only half done until then. The real challenge begins when you want your home to start making money – renting it out.
Holiday homes can be a huge asset to your investment portfolio if (and it is a big if) you know how to get people to rent your property. Not everyone is an ace in the hospitality sector, and the first few steps in renting your holiday home can be quite confusing.
That is why SaffronStays brings you this guide on listing your holiday home on aggregator sites. Save this for easy access, and you never have to worry again.
So shall we?
Listing your Holiday Home Online
So now you have chosen and decorated your holiday home as you wanted it to be. The time has come to put it on the market. What used to be one of the hardest things before has now become marginally easier to do.
The myriad of aggregator websites online allow you to list and market your property to a wide audience, from the comfort of your home. While it still does not help you manage and run the holiday home as such, it does help you get your property on the market.
While there are a lot of free listing and paid listing options, major aggregator sites online like Airbnb, booking.com, and MakeMyTrip offer free listing options.
The process is simple enough on these sites :
- Create an account on the website you want to list your holiday home on. If you have an existing one, log in before starting.
- The first form you see after clicking the “Add a listing” is a basic form that needs you to input Home type, number of guests, and city. Ensure that you pick only the number that can be a comfortable arrangement with everyone having a bed to sleep in.
- After this form, you move on to a more detailed second form to input the amenities, host responsibilities, property description, images, and so on.
- Choose the most attractive property images and ensure that the best ones come in the first three since they become the display picture.
- Then, move on to choosing what documents your guest must carry, the booking calendar, and the pricing.
- Add any other additional conditions such as pet restrictions, additional charges, exclusions, and inclusions, etc. before going live.
This is a generic process and does not differ much across the major aggregator websites.
But marketing a property is not just about uploading a few photos and filling out forms. If it was, then every holiday home would be a roaring success. No, there are a few more factors to watch out for.
Especially the pricing. On platforms like Airbnb, it is the host who sets the price but if you are a first-time Home Owner, it can be daunting. Pricing your property too high or low can impact your sales or profit margins. Even with the pricing calculator tools on Booking.com, you may not truly hit the right pricing according to what you are offering. So, scout well before zero down on any number.
The same goes with choosing the number of guests, amenities to list, and what to hold off on to make your property look better over the years. Without a deep dive and ample research, you might as well not list your holiday home on these sites.
Monetizing your Holiday Home
Does it all sound dry and confusing? Are you not having any luck with renting your holiday home even after ticking all the so-called boxes on these aggregator sites? Well, as it turns out, that is most often the case.
Unless you are a wizard in hospitality and know what the market needs, renting out a holiday home can be a challenging task.
So what is the solution? How can you monetize the stunning holiday home you have on your hands? And more importantly, how can you do it without running pillar to post every day?
Well, we have an obvious and profitable solution for you – partnering with a rental home operator. Premium rental home management companies like SaffronStays know what your property deserves and helps Home Owners like you get exactly that!
Want to know more? Reach out to us at partner@saffronstays.com today!
